After six years, Adele has returned to the spotlight with her fourth studio album, 30. Inspired by her recent divorce, this album is nothing less than emotional. This album signifies the importance of self-love and finding one’s worth in relationships. Adele’s stories are beautifully expressed through the melodies of twelve brand new songs. This is not just the story of a divorce, but a reinvention of a woman who fell out of love with a man and took the journey to find herself — here are my thoughts on it.
- “Strangers By Nature”
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The first song on the album is called “Strangers by Nature,” this is by far one of my favorites because it reminds me of “Once Upon a Dream” from Sleeping Beauty. It sounds like a dream until you listen to the lyrics, and it becomes clear this relationship is far from happily ever after. Ending with the voice memo “Alright, now I’m ready” letting us know she’s about to tell her story.
- “Easy On Me”
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The vocals on this track are enough to make world peace. Although the vocals are pure beauty, the meaning behind this song is much deeper and sadder than it appears to be. This song was written solely about the divorce between her and her husband as a way to explain to their son why she had to part from their relationship. In this heartbreaking song, Adele refers to her relationship as a river and in this river, she feels there is no hope, she can’t swim and feels like she is drowning.
- “My Little Love”
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The third track is one of the hardest to listen to. This tribute to her son Angelo is a gut-punching story laced with voice memos about divorce, loneliness and the unbreakable relationship between a mother and son.
- “Cry Your Heart Out”
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If you think this is just another sad girl song — you’re correct. This song is filled with heavy lyrics that are disguised by its jazzy melody. This song is the perfect reminder that when you’re at your lowest point, to “go at your own pace” and heal in your own time.
- “OH My God” & “Can I Get It”
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These two tracks are all about her road into the single life. It was so exciting to hear these songs for the first time because I felt they were very different from what we’re used to hearing from her, but they were a great addition to the album because now we have two new single-nation anthems. I can’t wait to strut around town, turning heads with these songs playing in my head. Okay, maybe not, but that’s what I picture when I hear them.
- “I Drink wine”
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This song dives deep into her journey of accepting herself. As someone who struggles deeply with this, I found this song to be very relatable and inspiring. This six-minute journey about accepting one’s self is a great message to all of us to always be ourselves and not to let others change who we are.
- “All night parking”
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No thoughts, just the perfect interlude for this masterpiece of an album.
- “women like me”
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Now, this is a song — “Women Like Me” is the definition of self-worth. This song gave us a look into her relationship behind closed doors, and it was the perfect call out to her ex. “Inconsistent, lazy, complains about decisions he makes” are just a few of the items mentioned. I think we can all relate to this song in some way; we all know at least one person who could never see just how great we could be; therefore, they didn’t deserve us, and that’s what this song represents.
- “hold on”
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“Hold On” is the most Adele song on the album — it gives us all the power ballads we know and love. This is a beautifully written song with lyrics that can resonate with anyone who’s going through something. She took us to church with this song and preached to us to be patient because good will come eventually.
- “to be loved”
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“To Be Loved” is my absolute favorite song on the album. As someone who’s never been in a relationship and has never felt a true heartbreak, this song is what I imagine it feels like. It takes us on her journey of deciding to leave her relationship, with the last three lines of the song being a repetition of “Let it be known, that I tried,” which hits home on so many different levels.
- “Love is a game”
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What a perfect way to end the album. It includes some of my favorite lyrics from all the new songs, including “love is a game for fools to play.” This song is filled with nostalgia and soul and it’ll be a song we look back at as a classic in years to come.
My number one tip when listening to this album is to grab a tissue box or two. The diversity of this album will leave you an emotional wreck and questioning everything you know about relationships and yourself. If you need me — I’ll be lying in bed for the next three weeks listening to this album and crying my eyes out over a man that doesn’t even know I exist.